The Order of The Zelda Games

Warning: This may contain some spoilers if you haven't already finished Zelda: Ocarina of Time!

    Ever since Zelda III: A Link to The Past came out, I have seen a lot of speculation as to the order in which the Zelda games take place. My belief is that the Zelda games follow this order: 5,3,4,1,2.

    There is no question that Zelda V (Ocarina of Time) is the first game in the series. First of all, Ganon has not turned into the pig that we all know him to be in the other games until the very end of the game. He is still known as Ganondorf in this game, and the other games all refer to him as Ganon (except in A Link to The Past when refering to how Ganon came to power BEFORE the game actually takes place). In addition to this, Impa is still young in this game. In the original Legend of Zelda, she is over 120 years old (which is normal since the Sheikah, Impa's race, live to be about 150 years old on average).

    The next game in the series is Zelda III: A Link to The Past. This game has to come after Zelda V because it occurs after the seven sages have sealed Ganon in the Dark World (which happened at the end of Zelda V). Ganon was building up his power in the Dark World, while using Agahnim as his puppet in the Light World. Agahnim used his magic to control the royal army of Hyrule, so that when Ganon was ready to come to the Light World it would be easy for him.

    Zelda IV: Link's Awakening follows Zelda III: A Link to the Past. In the instruction manual it says: "Though you fulfilled the Hyrulian Prophecy of the Legendary Hero and destroyed the evil tyrant Ganon, the land of Hyrule enjoyed only a precarious peace." The only game that Link is ever referred to as the Legendary Hero is Zelda III: A Link to the Past. In case you forgot, in Zelda V, Link is referred to as the Hero of Time.

    The Legend of Zelda comes after Link's Awakening. Ganon is completely defeated in this game (unless someone can put a drop of Link's blood on his ashes), and at the end of Zelda V, after defeating Ganon, he says that as long as he has the Triforce of Power, he cannot be defeated. In this game after defeating Ganon for good, Link gets the Triforce of Power.

    Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is currently the final game in the Zelda series. Link already has the Triforce of Wisdom and Power (which he got in Zelda I), and needed to find the Triforce of Courage to wake the sleeping Princess Zelda. In this game he already has the Master Sword (or Magic Sword, they're probably just two names for the same sword, such as The Sword of Evil's Bane and the Master Sword), and in every other game he has to find the legendary sword, which proves this is the last game in the series (he wouldn't have the sword already without finding it first).

    As for the next Zelda game, I'm hoping that Nintendo makes it take place after Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, since it would be hard to make a game take place before Zelda V, which takes place recently after Hyrule is united.